1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a plumbing repair kit, and, more particularly, to a new and improved plumbing hookup kit that has a wide range of applications for an extensive variety of plumbing fitting sizes and types.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When a plumbing device, such as a faucet assembly, a toilet tank fill valve or ball cock, an icemaker or a dishwasher, is installed or replaced, a significant amount of difficulty frequently is encountered in establishing the water supply hookup to the plumbing device. A major cause of this difficulty is due to the wide variety of fitting types and sizes to which connections need to be made.
The connection to the water supply is typically made by a length of tubing extending between a water supply source and the inlet of the device to be connected to the water supply source. The water supply source might be a shutoff valve, a pipe coupling or an adaptor provided with a compression fitting in any of a variety of sizes. The sizes of such fittings typically may be 3/8", 7/16" or 1/2". The task of completing the hookup is further complicated by the fact that the inlet of the device to be connected to the water supply source might be a faucet shank fitting, a toilet tank fill valve fitting, or some other compression or slip fitting of a different size.
One way in which the water supply sources were connected to these various devices was by obtaining a hookup device or kit in the form of a length of tubing having coupling components of specific sizes and types at each end. As a result, the installer would have to obtain a particular hookup device having a coupling at one end to match the particular size and type of fitting for the water supply source and a coupling at the other end to match the particular fitting with which the plumbing device was provided. Consequently, manufacturers, distributors and retailers necessarily would have to provide a large number of different hookup devices or kits, each of which is designed for a hookup between fittings of a particular size and type. For example, a hardware store may offer a dozen or more different hookup devices or kits from which a purchaser must attempt to select the specific one that has the proper fitting sizes and types of couplings at its ends in order to accomplish a particular hookup.
In order to overcome the problem of having to provide a different hookup device or kit for each different plumbing hookup installation, the inventor of the present application did develop a plumbing hookup kit that could be used to connect devices to a water supply source even though the fittings for the devices and the water supply source were of different sizes and types. The plumbing hookup kit that was so developed is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,688 that issued on May 20, 1986. The hookup kit disclosed in that patent includes a length of tubing, an annular terminal at each end of the tubing, a seal ring, and a number of adaptor sleeves. By installing the seal ring on the annular terminal or by installing the seal ring as well as one of the adaptor sleeves on the annular terminal, the hookup kit could be used to interconnect any number of different male threaded fittings which are adapted to cooperate with a corresponding one of a plurality of different coupling nuts. While the hookup kit disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,688 did provide a universal hookup kit, problems occurred with certain of the connections. For example, the rubber seal ring alone was used on the annular terminal for a 3/8" compression type connection. However, the tubing tended to be rotated as the nut was rotated to secure the connection. This was due to the fact that the rubber seal was in frictional contact with both the annular terminal and the compression nut. As a result, the seal and thereby the terminal and the tubing connected to the terminal rotated as the nut was being tighten causing the tubing to become twisted. In another situation, the plumbing hookup disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,688 did not maintain a water tight connection when the annular terminal was pushed into the connection. This was due to the fact that nothing prevented the terminal from moving axially within the connection when a force was applied to the terminal. When the terminal moved in this manner, the rubber seal no longer maintained its sealing relationship with the inside of the coupling.